Giving and receiving equally important among Christmas shoppers

Putting the “I” in Christmas, Canadians will spend almost as much buying presents for themselves this season as they will for their beloved.

According to a new nationwide survey for Interac, more than a third of holiday shoppers (35 per cent) plan to fill their own lists this year, setting aside an average $179 for self-gifting. Presents for a spouse or partner will likely see a spend of $203, while children are expected to be the biggest beneficiaries of Christmas kindness, at $237.

When bosses are included on people’s lists, the budget is $81, while presents for the family pet are predicted to cost $63. That said, those with the key to the executive washroom are far less likely to be recognized than those who drink from the toilet: fewer than one in 10 Canadians expect to buy for the boss, compared to one in four for Fido.

According to Caroline Hubberstey, who is head of external affairs for the Interac Association, “the survey shows that twothirds of Canadians will set a holiday spending budget and use a variety of tactics to stay on plan, including spending money that’s already in their bank accounts.”

Of those shoppers with a strategy, 37 per cent have budgeted between $500 and $1,500 for holiday gifts; 28 per cent intend to spend between $250 and $499; 22 per cent expect to drop between $100 and $249; eight per cent have Christmas budgets less than $100; and five per cent plan to spend north of $1,500 filling their lists.

The online survey that was published on Tuesday, was conducted by The Strategic Counsel with a random sample of 1,000 adult Canadians between Nov. 6 and 8.

A probability sample of this size would yield results that are accurate within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.